Product Listing

LG Optimus 2X - Twice the Horse Power

By Wong Casandra - 22 Mar 2011
Launch SRP: S$888

Performance - Part II

Multimedia & Battery Life Performance

In this segment, the LG Optimus 2X impresses but also fails in certain areas. To kickstart, its 4.0-inch LCD screen is excellent, displaying true blacks, rich and vivid colors. It isn't a stretch to say that the visual experience is almost parallel to the one on the Samsung's patented Super AMOLED screens, boasting of good readability under bright sunlight. Hence, flipping through photos or playing games can be very satisfactory on the smartphone. Messaging is a fluid affair too, not only in terms of agility but also thanks to the decently sized 4.0-inch screen, which gave us ample space for our fingers to maneuver. Those aside, an acceptable 480 x 800 pixels resolution is sufficient for comfortable video playback.

Surfing on the smartphone yielded no problems; generally, the user experience was smooth and receptive on its 4.0-inch touchscreen. Throughout our duration of handling the phone, it never lagged or crashed once. We attribute the smoothness and lag-free experience to the built-in Tegra 2 processor. Audio is average, boasting of airy and weak vocals with strong bass. The media player comes with equalizer choices that range from virtual surround, bass boost, XtraBass to classical - you can choose to switch the sound effects entirely or stick with one of these presets.

As with most high-end smartphones, the Optimus 2X is equipped with a front facing 1.3-megapixel camera and a rear 8-megapixel camera with flash. We conducted our usual imaging tests to check on its photographic performance, concentrating on the main camera on the back.

 Seen on the smartphone: 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and auto-focus.

While we would have preferred easier access to the zoom options, we must say that the stock camera app here comes packed with some cool features.  Click the first icon for a quick switch from your rear to front camera.

Photos were evidently whitewashed. The 8-megapixel camera is not too impressive, even losing out to 5-megapixel phones of late. Photos were reasonably sharp but the whitewashed nature isn't helping it.

The camera did not manage to capture fine details, and we spotted aggressive compression artifacts along the edges of objects.

On the resolution chart, both the horizontal and vertical LPH showed readings of 1300 and 1000, results which are pretty high for a mobile phone. However, colors were somewhat washed-out but otherwise, relatively accurate. In our test shot, we noticed aggressive compression artifacts along the edges of the objects pictured, which could be a result of the built-in noise reduction software. Nonetheless, the overall photographic performance is rather lackluster, with even the 5-megapixel Nexus S triumphing in terms of performance.

As usual, we compare the Optimus 2X's battery performance with a selected group of devices chosen based on their similarities across battery capacities, display sizes, resolution and processing power. This standard battery test consists of looping a 240 x 320 pixels resolution video clip at 100% volume and screen brightness, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth active with push email or data being pulled at regular intervals. For the LG Optimus 2X, we compared it against similar Android devices such as the Google Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy S and the Google Nexus One.

Specifications/Device LG Optimus 2X Google Nexus S Samsung Galaxy S Google Nexus One
Processor
  • NVIDIA Tegra 2
    (Dual-core 1GHz)
  • Hummingbird 1GHz 
  • Samsung-Intrinsity Hummingbird
    S5PC110 1GHz
  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz
Display Size
  • 4.0-inch
  • 4.0-inch
  • 4.0-inch
  • 3.7-inch
Display Type
  • TFT  LCD
  • Super AMOLED
  • Super AMOLED
  • AMOLED
Display Resolution
  • 480 x 800 pixels
  • 480 x 800 pixels
  • 480 x 800 pixels
  • 480 x 800 pixels
Dimensions
  • 123.9 x 63.2 x 10.9mm
  • 123.9 x 63 x 10.88mm
  • 122.4 x 64.2 x 9.9mm
  • 119 x 59.8 x 11.5mm
Weight
  • 139g
  • 129g
  • 118g
  • 135g
Battery
  • 1500 mAh
  • 1500 mAh
  • 1500 mAh
  • 1400 mAh
 

The LG Optimus 2X underperformed in this area, displaying the weakest result of the bunch, only lasting for a fair 5+ hours when we ran our tests. Judging by the power consumption benchmark results, the phone uses about 28-30% more power compared to the rest. Factors like screen sizes, UI and differing operating systems play a part in optimizing battery consumption - and so does the processor. In this case, despite having a more powerful processor, the phone's battery life in intensive usage takes a 50-100 minutes cut - chalking up to a less-than-efficient power consumption. Notably, while rationing it for normal day-to-day operations, the phone could last for at least three-quarters of a full day.

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8.5
  • Design 8.5
  • Features 8.5
  • User-Friendliness 8.5
  • Performance 8
  • Value 8
The Good
Simplified UI
Brilliant 4.0-inch LCD touchscreen
Well-constructed build
Snappy performance
The Bad
Lackluster camera performance
Small selection of LG exclusive apps
Short battery life
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